"Hast thou so?" quoth he.
"Laugh as thou wilt, but it is true," she insisted. "Lose me and thy
most valuable ally is lost--one who has the ear and favour of her lord.
For look, Sakr-el-Bahr, it is what would befall if another came to fill
my place, another who might poison Asad's mind with lies against thee--
for surely she cannot love thee, this Frankish girl whom thou hast torn
from her home!"
"Be not concerned for that," he answered lightly, his wits striving in
vain to plumb the depths and discover the nature of her purpose. "This
slave of mine shall never usurp thy place beside Asad."
"0 fool, Asad will take her whether she be for sale or not."
He looked down upon her, head on one side and arms akimbo. "If he can
take her from me, the more easily can he take her from thee. No doubt
thou hast considered that, and in some dark Sicilian way considered too
how to provide against it. But the cost--hast thou counted that? What
will Asad say to thee when he learns how thou hast thwarted him?"
"What do I care for that?" she cried in sudden fury, her gestures
becoming a little wild. "She will be at the bottom of the harbour by
then with a stone about her neck. He may have me whipped. No doubt he
will. But 'twill end there. He will require me to console him for his
loss, and so all will be well again."
At last he had drawn her, pumped her dry, as he imagined. Indeed,
indeed, he thought, he had been right to say she was not subtle.
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